Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 - final swap

Some of us have been enjoying reading the books shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. They tend to be quite demanding reads but some have been absolutely fabulous reads! (and others less so ...... :-))

I thought we'd finish off with a final swap. I've listed the sixteen books below. Choose one, read it, and then email your partner with at least a paragraph (and more is even better) about the book and your reaction to it.

The sixteen shortlisted books are:

The 16 longlisted books are as follows:

Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris

Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo

Homesick by Jennifer Croft

I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel

Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

Pod by Laline Paull

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

I've so far read Stone Blind and Black Butterflies and felt that both were well worth reading.

If you're interested, the six books that made the shortlist were

Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris Pod by Laline Paull Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks Trespasses by Louise Kennedy The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

There's lots more information about the prize and the books at the Women's Prize website

Some of us have found it took time to get the books from our library -- there were often quite a few other people already waiting in line for these books. So I'll give us quite a long time between signup and swap deadline, to give us time to get the books and then to read them!